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24 Aug 2013

Recently the Cap has been reviewing a whole lot of things, about life, work, the future etc. It’s been a difficult exercise trying to work out where to take the ‘ship’ – speaking in parables here.

How does one assess what’s the situation, where to go and what resources to throw at something. Then you find out that you don’t have all the resources, or that there are certain risks. So what’s the path? What will be the strategy? I’ve therefore had to carry out a careful assessment.

I share with you a ‘stupidly simple’ thing called the SWOT analysis. I came across it over 15 years ago but did not knuckle down to actually ‘doing the thing’. I mean it’s actually easy to glare at it and think ‘Yeah, I know what’s what’. And that is actually the wrong approach! So – when recently I did knuckle down and type into the thing and saved it, and then came back at it an looked at it again, a sense of greater awareness came over me.

The first thing was that I wasn’t being 100% honest with myself. I noticed I was trying to tell myself a story about me – as if I was speaking to somebody else. “Who as I trying to fool – by telling some version of the truth?” – me! So I get down again and revise the thing a few more times. Then something new began to emerge after a few days. A different course began to take shape. The future looked clearer. I could see ‘the light' – the path was easier to plan for. I could better appreciate the risks and cater for them, and I certainly knew more about what I needed to change or prepare for.

So – I give you my version of the SWOT which you can download for a small donation. But surely you can Google it as well and make your own with a word processor, or you could just use pen and paper. Now you’re wondering whether I need a few quid, and why I’ve put it up for sale.

No - I don’t need the money. I’ve only done this version because I’m practicing with Adobe Forms - and trying to develop new skills there – building my strengths! Putting it for sale, is about getting the experience of how to do that. If I was truly interested getting paid for this, I wouldn’t be telling you that you could make this with blank piece of paper and a pencil. If you need a free copy the above email me (if you’ve not been previously blocked) at walkerDOTcaptainATgmailDOTcom. But whatever you think – please do a SWOT. I mean really do it. Don’t just look at the thing, as I had done years ago. This could be life changing.